New For Traders: ISE to open new options exchange

International Securities Exchange Holdings, Inc. (ISE) announced ISE Gemini as the brand name of its new options exchange. The SEC published ISE's Form 1 application for a second exchange license on March 7, 2013, and ISE Gemini is targeted for launch in Q2 2013, pending SEC approval.

CME will offer platinum, palladium and copper floor-traded options in its New York gold and silver pits starting April 1. This move comes after CME added platinum and palladium options onto its Globex electronic platform amidst increasing interest in these contracts.

CME will list a 1,000-ounce physical delivery silver futures contract in June, adding to COMEX’s current 5,000-ounce contract that has physical delivery and a 2,500-ounce contract settled in cash.

CME will list its iron ore futures contracts on its electronic platform starting May 13, in order to increase liquidity in the SGX-dominated derivatives market.

IntercontinentalExchange announced the introduction of 35 new energy, environmental, freight and ferrous metal contracts on April 29, 2013.

CME will reduce electronic trading hours in grains starting next week to 17.5 hours from 21 hours. CBOT will now open from 7 p.m. to and close at 1:15 p.m., with a 45 minute break at 7:45 a.m. Both electronic trading and open outcry will restart at 8:30am and close at 1:15 p.m.

IntercontinentalExchange announced it will introduce two new Russell Index futures contracts. The contracts will be based on the Russell 2000 Growth and Russell 2000 Value Indexes and will begin trading on April 22, 2013, subject to regulatory review.

BATS Global Markets will start charging U.S. clients for access to its proprietary market data as of July 1, with the introduction of monthly fees for depth of book data, as well as top of book and last sales feeds for both its U.S. markets, BATS BZX and BATS BYX.

CBOE Futures Exchange, LLC announced plans to expand CBOE Volatility Index (VIX index) futures trading hours – currently 7:00 a.m. CT to 3:15 p.m. CT -- in two phases, beginning in May. The first phase of expanded trading hours is designed to meet demand from U.S. customers for a post-settlement trading period. The second phase will allow European-based customers to trade VIX futures during their local trading hours.

Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT) and The Mexican Derivatives Exchange (MexDer) today announced that TT has linked its X_TRADER derivatives trading platform to MexDer via the CME Group’s Globex platform. TT’s connection launched concurrently with CME’s iLink enhancements for MexDer via Globex, which were released on April 14.

Nasdaq and CME are building a HFT link between Nasdaq’s datacenter in New Jersey and CME’s in Illinois

MultiChart.NET launched its new Starter Edition. Starter Edition was designed for beginner traders to ease the burden of buying expensive software when you are just starting out. MultiCharts .NET Starter Edition offers all features of MultiCharts .NET, including LIVE trading capabilities (chart, DOM, drag-and-drop strategies and fully automated), best charting in the industry, advanced strategy development capabilities in C# and Visual Basic, integration with Visual Studio, high-precision tick-by-tick strategy and portfolio backtesting, extremely fast optimization and more – and you can trade up to two (2) symbols at a time.

Livevol, released its latest version of their flagship option analytics platform today, Livevol Pro, with two new tools that give clients powerful market scanning capabilities. These two new tools, Pro Scanner and Sectors, generate real‐time trade ideas in both pre‐configured and user‐created scans.

CFTCCommissioner Bart Chilton suggested a “bill of rights” for end users in the derivatives markets, including a call for HFT firm registration and conduct rules. According to the Automated Trader, Chilton said that “I believe these principles best protect our consumers and end-users who help move our economy forward – and let’s keep in mind that these end users were not the cause of the financial crisis that led to financial reform.”

Germany’s upper house parliament approved regulations to curb HFT in financial markets, although the draft legislation still requires further improvement.

CME Group and MarkitSERV will collaborate to support clearing for regulated OTC FX transactions, which are currently limited to non-deliverable forwards (NDFs). CME’s FX clearing interface will be further improved in May 2013 with clearing support for cash settled forwards (NDFs for G10 currencies).

AxiCorp Financial Services Pty launched its AxiTrader USA forex service. The new service is designed to give U.S. clients access to 24-hour trading through the MetaTrader4 platform.

Managed Funds

Neptune Global Holdings LLC has created a new patent pending investment product called the Precious Metals Composite (PMC Ounce). This offering provides a unit of trade comprised of four fractional components consisting of gold, silver, platinum and palladium.

Novus Precious Commodities, a managed futures program offered by Novus Investments LLC, announced its ranking of Top Performing Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) in the United States for the 5 year period of 2008-2012 according to Autumn Gold.

Lillian Nicola Asset Management announced the launch of the LNAM Diversified Forex Strategy. The LNAM Diversified Forex strategy is a discretionary, directional trading methodology which enters and disposes of currency pairs within the spot forex market. The intent of the program is to capture price trends lasting anywhere from 2 weeks up to 6 months within these markets.

About the Author

Michael McFarlin joined Futures in 2010 after graduating summa cum laude from Trinity International University, where he majored in English/Communication. With the launch of the new web platform, Michael serves as web editor for the site and will continue to work on the magazine, where he focuses on the Markets and Trading 101 features. He also served as a member of the Wisconsin National Guard from 2007 to 2010. mmcfarlin@futuresmag.com